Cuparia

The Detroit Puppet Theater and Puppet Center has announced its 2008-2009 season. I’d like to see a few…

Last week, I missed a rare opportunity to see a professional puppeteer give a free performance at the Toledo Zoo as part of a four-day arts event that included performances by the Toledo Symphony, the Toledo Opera, and the Toledo Ballet. My schedule just wouldn’t permit it. It’s very important to me to see as many professional puppet shows as possible in order to learn more about the craft, derive inspiration, and support puppetry in general. I just need to learn about it farther in advance.

In June, I missed my chance to attend an international puppet festival in Nashville. It was not because I wasn’t aware of it early enough, but because I had some serious car trouble that also prevented me from attending a convention for which I had already registered. Next year I intend to see both, if my car’s health allows it. I need better luck.

I recall that there is a puppet theatre and museum in Detroit, Michigan, so maybe I’ll be able to see a puppet show before the end of summer. (Detroit Puppet Theater and Puppet Center is the place… and I just noticed that I missed a series of performances by a few days. Make that the entire 2007-2008 performance season… by a few days. The very last performance was August the 16th. I’m just not lucky.)

Count Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster are fully painted (and have been for several weeks), but I still need to make the bodies, which means shopping for fabric. I should probably get the sewing machine repaired, too… and learn how to use it. I might start on the Wolf Man tomorrow, or perhaps the Mummy.

Danny Boy has made lots of puppet heads for both the Monster Chiller Horror Puppet Show and Punch & Judy, but he hasn’t painted any of them.

I sculpted and painted a new Flying Monkey puppet head recently, and I will be making a new Wicked Witch of the West next. She will be a tricky one (appropriately enough).

As for photographs, I’m waiting until the puppets are completely finished.

I have made two new puppet heads along the lines of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula and Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein’s Monster. I’ll begin painting them tomorrow after work. I have been using acrylic paint, but I’m not satisfied with it (at least not the brands I’ve tried). It requires too many coats and consequently conceals too much of the finer sculpting detail. I could try using the paint made for miniatures, but that would probably be cost prohibitive.

Danny Boy has been making monster puppets, too. Today he asked me what he should make next and I said, “How about a gargoyle? I think I can come up with something funny about a gargoyle.” I have charged him with making the “Real Monsters” whilst I concentrate on the “Movie Monsters.” I think I’ll make Lon Chaney Jr.’s Wolf Man next. Oh, and I should write a play with all these characters at some point. (Or I could wait until the last minute.)

Due to certain obstacles of a financial or technical nature, my Halloween puppet show will not be ready in time for Halloween this year, but I will continue to work on it to the extent that I am able. The greatest obstacles are the lack of a microphone and a working sewing machine. This has reduced my momentum a bit, and I have not sculpted any new puppet heads for some weeks. Danny Boy still hasn’t painted any of the puppet heads he has finished.

We have been making puppets for two different shows. The Punch & Judy puppet heads are largely finished, but I’ve only made two of the Halloween puppets. Since several of the primary puppets are based on actual characters, I am searching for photographs to use as reference. In particular, I require Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s Monster, and maybe Peter Lorre and Vincent Price as undetermined characters. One of the two finished puppet heads is an Igor based loosely on Marty Feldman. The other is a goblin not based on anyone.

If anyone knows of any books with good photographs of these actors, please let me know.

Other smaller puppet projects I am planning include making a new Wicked Witch of the West and a new Flying Monkey. I might even go so far as to write a new play inspired by the Wizard of Oz characters, which would, of course, necessitate the making of even more puppets.

We shall see…

Talk Like a Pirate Day was not much of a celebration for me. I failed to find the type of string I needed for the pirate marionette (I may have to order it), and I realized I am completely at sea as to how to costume it. This is supposedly National Sewing Month (as I learned upon visiting a fabric store), but I have neither knowledge nor a sewing machine. I must look into getting a cheap sewing machine as soon as possible, especially since I have many glove puppets that are ready to have their bodies made (or soon will be).

I thought about posting some photographs of puppets in progress, including the Mr. Punch and the Doctor I finished painting, but I’m having second thoughts about displaying them before they are complete. Perhaps if I had photographs of each stage of their creation I would post them, but just their headless selves? No, I think I’ll wait until I can present them in their full glory (or infamy, depending on one’s point of view).